Church of Scientology denies extraordinary claims that Nicole Kidman was a 'gold digger who faked conversion when she married Tom Cruise'

Mail, UK/January 10, 2013

By Sara Nathan

The Church of Scientology has vehemently denied extraordinary claims that their leader David Miscavige called Nicole Kidman a gold digger who had faked her conversion to the religion.

In a new book, Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright alleges the comments were made about the 45-year-old actress when she was married to Scientology devotee Tom Cruise.

He goes on to claim that Miscavige had described her as a 'suppressive' person and was hopeful that the actor, now 50, could be 'peeled away' from her.'

Both the Church and Miscavige have issued a robust denial of the allegations made in Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief, which will by published by Knopf on January 17 with a reported print run of 150,000 copies.

The Church of Scientology has vehemently denied extraordinary claims that their leader David Miscavige called Nicole Kidman a gold digger who had faked her conversion to the religion.

In a new book, Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright alleges the comments were made about the 45-year-old actress when she was married to Scientology devotee Tom Cruise.

He goes on to claim that Miscavige had described her as a 'suppressive' person and was hopeful that the actor, now 50, could be 'peeled away' from her.'

Both the Church and Miscavige have issued a robust denial of the allegations made in Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief, which will by published by Knopf on January 17 with a reported print run of 150,000 copies.

A British version of the book has been cancelled after publisher Transworld took legal advice.

Karin Poew, a Church representative said: 'Wright's book would be better suited for supermarket tabloids because they are nothing more than a stale rehash of allegations disproven long ago.

'It is important to note that Wright's British publisher had second thoughts, choosing not to publish Wright's book after being informed of the numerous inaccuracies and defamatory lies it contains that were told to Wright by a handful of bitter and discredited former Scientologists.'

Wright's highly-anticipated book is based on his 2011 New Yorker article 'The Apostate', for which he interviewed the screenwriter and director Paul Haggis about his decision to resign from the organisation.

It examines the Church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, the church's finances and its relationships with celebrities such as Cruise and John Travolta.

The first excerpt of the tome, published in The Hollywood Reporter this week, alleges that Miscavige attempted to cultivate Cruise to become a spiritual leader - and was 'bedazzled' by the glamour surrounding the star, who introduced him to a social life outside Scientology, including use of his private jet and set visits.

In turn, Cruise ploughed millions of dollars into the church and attempted to lobby foreign leaders - including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair - to promote Scientology. The book claims that the actor submitted to hours of 'auditing' - where followers are given 'spiritual counselling - in the run up to his split from Nicole in 2001.

It had been previously alleged that Cruise and Nicole's adopted children Isabella and Conor, both brought up as devout Scientologists, were told their mother was a 'supressive' person - a spiritually toxic person to be avoided.

Members of the Church quietly instilled this idea into the kids, who were just eight and six at the time of their parents split, to try and turn them against Nicole, sources claimed to Vanity Fair last September.

The Church strongly denied the claims, publishing online an eight-page letter which it sent to the magazine in which it accused the writer Maureen Orth of 'shoddy journalism'.

After an intensive five days hours of auditing in October 1998, according to the new book, Cruise 'went quiet' until he and Nicole were in England, filming Eyes Wide Shut.

Out of the blue, former Scientologist and church official Marty Rathbun, who oversaw Cruise's auditing, received a call from the star in January 2001 asking for help - and revealing that he and Nicole had split.

Cruise's 'renewed dedication' to Scientology following the breakdown of his near 10-year marriage to Nicole, resulted in Miscaviage and the actor becoming 'closer than ever', as the book alleges the church leader flew with Cruise in the Warner Bros. jet to a test screening of The Last Samurai in Arizona.

While in July 2004, Miscavige hosted a 42nd birthday party for Cruise aboard the Scientology cruise ship Freewinds, with the book noting: 'Musicians, including Miscavige's father, played songs from the actor's films as clips played on giant screens. Cruise himself danced and sang 'Old Time Rock and Roll, reprising his famous scene from Risky Business.'

In Vanity Fair, in 2004, Miscaviage was alleged to have set up a team to help Cruise find a girlfriend. They claimed that the church discovered aspiring actress Nazanin Boniadi, a 25-year-old Iranian-born, London-raised beauty whose mother was also a Scientologist.

It was said that she was given intensive auditing and security checks by the Church and flown to New York and Cruise's Colorado estate in Telluride in late 2007 for dates with the star.

But the brief romance ended when Nazanin asked Miscavige to repeat himself while they were talking - which was considered a huge slight

However the Vanity Fair claims were vehemently denied by Mr Miscavige and the Church who said: 'The entire story is hogwash. There was no project, secret or otherwise, ever conducted by the church to find a bride (audition or otherwise) for any member of the church.'

Mr Cruise has also poured cold water on these allegations.

The latest book claims that she] was given a 'dressing down' by Cruise for 'disrespecting' the Church leader, as the book said he told her: 'You don't get it, it goes like this,' Cruise said. He raised his hand over his head. 'First there's LRH ' (L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology).He moved his hand down a few inches. 'Then there is COB' (Chairman of the board, Miscavige). Bringing his hand down at his own eye level, he said 'Then there's me'. [ADD: Cruise's attorney has vehemently denied that this exchange took place or that the Church set him up].

It was only a few months later that Cruise met Katie Holmes and the pair were married in November 2006 following the birth of their daughter Suri. Miscavige was Cruise's best man at the ceremony in Rome.

Katie, 34, stunned Cruise by filling for divorce last June and has since then moved her little girl to New York City, with reports claiming that she did not want their six-year-old daughter to grow up in Scientology.

The author of the new book is no stranger to investigating secretive organisations. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.

In the mid 1990s, Scientology leader David Miscavige tried to woo Cruise and his then wife Nicole Kidman with a 'completely deferential environment as spotless and odorless as a fairy tale', according to Lawrence Wright's book.

A romantic bungalow was especially built for the couple at Gold Base, Scientology's desert outpost near Hemet, California.

When he heard about Cruise and Nicole's fantasy of running through a field of wildflowers together, Miscavige had Sea Org - whose members dress in military-style uniforms, a throwback to their original purpose as L Ron Hubbard's private navy - to plant a section of the desert with the blooms.

When that failed to meet his expectations, the meadow was plowed and sodded with grass.

However, former Scientologist Marty Rathbun told how he was against the 'endless courtship' of Cruise - especially after he returned to the Church.

The book claims: 'He told Miscavige 'I think I'm done with this guy.' Miscavige responded: 'He'll he done when he calls me'. Rathbun believes the leader was galled by the fact that Cruise had never contacted him when he came back for counseling.'

It adds: 'Miscavige showed his instinctive understanding of how to cater to the sense of entitlement that comes with stardom.'

In November, Nicole -now married to country singer Keith Urban with whom she has two young daughters - gave a rare glimpse into her split from Cruise

She married the actor in 1990 when she was just 23 and told DuJour magazine that after their break-up, 'It took me a very long time to heal. It was a shock to my system...I was totally smitten - I fell madly, passionately in love.

'I was reeling with Tom. I would have gone to the ends of the earth for him...I was so impulsive and naïve.'

The Australian star added: 'We were in a bubble, just the two of us.'

There were hints of why the marriage might have gone wrong after nearly 10 years. Cruise, after all, is the most famous Scientologist in the world. Kidman grew up Catholic and remains devout, saying: 'We were a close-knit family — still are,' adding that she still lives by the Ten Commandments.

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